Change of Plans
by AnotherChapterOfMe
Summary: Sequel to I Do. Because sometimes, even when you've been left at the altar by the very person who is getting married today, you still have to go and pretend to be happy. It's what friends do. Even if it hurts. Beck/OFC, established Jori.


**_A/N: _**_This is a sequel to my other story, _I Do_. You should be just fine reading this without the first one, though; all you have to know is that Jade left Beck at the altar to be with Tori. Still, it's a lot more fun if you read _I Do_ first, kay?_

* * *

Beck couldn't remember a moment in his life where he'd been more uncomfortable. His tie was too tight, his shoes a little too big, everything smelled of grass, and most of all, he had no idea what his heart was doing.

"_I completely understand if you don't want to come", _she'd said to him as she handed him the black and white invitation. "_I won't be upset or anything. But if you did come, I'd… It'd make the whole day a lot more special." _She'd smiled sympathetically, and that's really what convinced him to go. He didn't need sympathy, didn't need her thinking he was still pining after her. Which he wasn't. He really wasn't.

They hadn't stopped being friends, not really – after their own failed wedding, Beck and Jade didn't speak to each other for a full five months, but Cat's birthday brought them forcibly into the same room, and things got… Softer. The bitter comments they exchanged all night gradually turned into honest questions, awkward jokes, actual laughter. Later that night, the two of them spent three hours locked in Cat's bedroom, talking. About their failed relationship. About what went wrong. About things that had absolutely nothing to do with either of them. Life in general. Her new, steady relationship with Tori. His relationship with the pretty actress he'd met earlier that year. Everything. By the time the night was over and everybody went home, they knew there was much work to be done, but the friendship could resurface, and they could be as inseparable as they had been before – minus the romance.

It took a whole year, several fights, and more patience than either of them knew they had, but they got there. The jokes came naturally now, and the silence between the two was no longer tense. Still, when he arrived at the little inn where the two girls had decided to have their wedding, his heart was thumping so hard he swore he could hear it.

"Beck!" A happy voice greeted him from somewhere behind him, and he turned around to see Andre in an elegant tuxedo. All he could do was give him a polite smile.

"How're you doing, man?" Andre laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, squeezing lightly.

"I'm fine."

"Dude, come on."

Beck let out a loud sigh, staring straight down at his own feet.

"I'm fine. She's happy. Tori's happy. I'm dealing with it like a grownup, so don't worry your head about me."

It wasn't true, not by a long shot. He'd been dreading this day since he heard that Jade proposed to Tori. He wouldn't tell them, of course, but the last place he wanted to be was right there. What could he do, though? Not come to his best friend's wedding? That wasn't really an option. He loved her, in a friendly way. He loved Tori, too. It wouldn't make sense to just not make an appearance.

As he glanced around and got a glimpse of one of the brides, though, it felt like his heart had stopped beating.

She looked stunning in her strapless white dress, sure. But what really broke his heart, paradoxically, was that she looked absolutely, perfectly happy. Happier than she had looked at any moment in their relationship after high school, actually. And there was a part of him, a very significant one, that was genuinely excited for her – how could anyone not be glad that one of their favorite people in the world was finally getting married to her perfect match?

But it still hurt, and right now the hurt was winning.

Over the years, as their relationship became more and more steady, Beck had made up the whole scenario in his head. A perfect fantasy. Lazy Sunday mornings lying in bed together, talking about silly things, watching cartoons as if they were still young enough to find them funny. A shaggy mutt barking at the mailman. Leaving for work so early in the morning, it'd still be dark out, and they'd be groaning short sentences at each other over a grumpy, hurried breakfast. Fucking in every single room of the house and not feeling even a little bit ashamed. Two blue lines on a stick, and freaking out together, and the doctor's appointments that would follow. Holding Jade's hand in the delivery room and listening to her scream at the doctors, at the nurses, at him, at everyone. Cradling their child against his chest and watching a pair of big, blue eyes stare curiously into his own, while a very similar pair watched them proudly.

She had dangled it all in front of his eager eyes, and pulled it away at the last moment.

He knew, rationally, it wasn't her fault. She hadn't done it to screw him over; she'd done it so they could both have a shot at true happiness. But while she had stepped right out of their boat and into another without so much as getting the soles of her feet wet, he was left swimming clumsily, unused to the water, just trying not to drown.

Their eyes met, and suddenly he forgot how to move.

She was so happy. Why couldn't he have made her this happy? What did Tori have that he didn't, besides the obvious - and Jade had always enjoyed his _obvious_, so it couldn't be about that. Tori hadn't been there for Jade since they were eleven. She hadn't witnessed all the freakouts, calmed all the existential crises, and sure as fuck hadn't had a single fight half as intense as the ones Jade and Beck used to have. She wasn't ready for the hurricane that was Jade West, and as soon as Jade stormed off for the first time, Tori would be calling _him _up for advice. He could almost see it.

Right now, what he could actually see was Jade approaching him with a shy, hesitant little smile. They stopped a couple feet away from each other, and Andre politely gave them an excuse that was clearly fake, but none of them cared, just thankful that their friend had the common sense to leave them alone for a little while.

The almost childish glee in her eyes was too much for Beck to handle, and it took every bit of his self-control to stay there and not run away like a coward.

"I'm glad you could come. It means a lot."

"Glad to be here, kiddo." He muttered back, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder. "I got you guys the stand mixer you registered for. The shiny black one. Although I doubt _you'll_ be using it much."

Jade chuckled, averting her gaze to the grass.

"I actually am trying to learn how to bake. Let's face it, between me and Tori, I don't know who has more potential to set the house on fire."

Beck had to laugh, too. It was true – he was skilled in the kitchen, but both girls were an honest disaster, and more than once he had caught himself wondering if their kids' first words would be the phone number for the pizza place.

"Any success so far?"

"There was a cake that tasted like an omelet. The infamous chocolate chip cookies that turned into charcoal. Oh, but my chocolate cake isn't half bad."

"Yours, or Betty Crocker's?"

She smacked his upper arm, earning a smirk from the young man.

"Hey, a girl's gotta start somewhere."

"True, true. I'm sure you're gonna be the next Ann Reardon soon."

"I was thinking Hannah Hart actually."

"Cause she's gay?"

"Cause she's gay."

A long silence lingered between them. Surely enough, at a wedding for two women, the word _gay _shouldn't come as a big surprise or a mood killer. But it just so happened that the three-letter word was also what broke them, and they were painfully aware of it.

"So… How are you?"

"I'm okay."

The answer fooled absolutely nobody, and they both resorted to staring at their feet.

"Beck, I'm sorry."

"For?"

"Not for. About. All of this."

"Not your fault you love her."

"Not yours, either."

Before either of them knew what was happening, Jade was pulling the young man into a tight hug, sighing softly against his shoulder. It didn't even occur Beck to resist.

"I blame Tori for this, you know." He muttered half-jokingly, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible through the big lump that was forming in his throat.

"Me too."

Silence once again. Neither of them released each other from the hug; it was warm and comforting, and he needed it more than he thought he ever would.

"I loved you, you know? I really did." Her voice broke the quietness between them again, this time much more subdued. "We were real. Just not right. But real."

Beck felt his chest grow heavy.

"I love you too."

"Don't do this." She held him a little tighter, shuddering with her best efforts to keep from crying. Tears at a wedding should only be happy ones.

"I don't mean I want to marry you again. I mean you're so important in my life, I'm standing here right now instead of on my couch eating a big batch of cookies and complaining vaguely to the dog."

"You're the best, dude." A teary laugh escaped the red painted lips, and with that they broke off their hug, noticing at the same time that Tori stood beside the pair with an understanding smile.

She didn't ask for an explanation, and they didn't offer one. All that Beck offered the latina was his sincere congratulations, which she gladly took before lacing her fingers through Jade's and leading her away. Leaving him alone with his thoughts and a clear view of the bar.

He was past the "every party is an opportunity to get wasted" phase of his life, but maybe he could make an exception this one time.

Beck doesn't really know how the events unraveled. After his first few shots, things got fuzzy in his brain – all he knows is that he ended up by the silver bin full of wedding presents, having a long conversation with a pretty girl whose name he wasn't really sure of, and angrily gesturing all over the place.

"And I mean, come _on. _I'll bet you Tori doesn't eat pussy better than _me_."

"That's enough Sex On The Beach for you." The girl said gently, chuckling as she pulled the half-finished cup from his hand and took a long sip herself, then put the cup down on a nearby table.

"Something we never did, by the way. I always wanted to. She didn't. I'll bet she lets _Tori _fuck her under an umbrella. Hey, can I have the little umbrella?"

She handed him the tiny umbrella and smiled, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.

"In her defense, it's really uncomfortable, especially for the girl. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything."

Beck chuckled as he twirled the umbrella between his fingers.

"You totally are."

"Maybe. Sand gets everywhere. And I mean _everywhere. _Even where you're thinking."

"Ouch."

A short silence followed, and the girl took another sip of Beck's drink.

"So… Uh, are you a friend of the bride or the- shit, that doesn't work at lesbian weddings, does it?"

She laughed.

"Yeah, it really doesn't. But I'm sort of neither. I'm the wedding planner. The girls invited me, and by the time I realized my ex and her current girlfriend are here, it was too late to back out."

Beck's hand flew to the nearest surface – in this case, the overflowing pile of packages in the bin next to him – and smacked it, almost causing the package on the top to fall over.

"You're gay too? Fuck damn it, I can't catch a break."

"I swing both ways actually." She shrugged, more than used to the question.

"That's what I get for fantasizing about a girl-girl-dude threesome. Fucking lesbians everywhere. Here a dyke, there a dyke, everywhere a dyke-dyke."

Before he could even duck out of the way, she smacked him across the face with surprising force for such a delicate-looking person.

"Don't use that word!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you'd get offended. Jade doesn't mind."

"I'm not Jade, though." She replied sharply, crossing her arms defensively.

"And I'm not your ex, but here we are, groaning about them. Me more than you, but still."

The girl locked eyes with someone across the room and put on a very forced smile, nodding quietly before returning to the conversation with clear frustration in her face.

"She sucks." A sigh escaped the soft pink lips. "Not 'leaving me at the altar' sucks, but still sucks."

The little pout on her face was so endearing, it gave Beck an idea. It was stupid, but harmless, and what did he really have to lose? Nothing. She was pretty and sweet, and he was inebriated, and they both had some pent-up feelings they very sorely needed to get out of their chests.

"How much do you wanna get out of here right now?" He asked with a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I wanna be here when they exchange vows and all that cute stuff, but up until then, I'm yours."

The half-smile that formed on her face showed him she had at least a rough idea of what he had in mind, and was at least open to the thought. Beck's smile grew a little wider, his upper body leaning a little closer so their mouths were almost touching.

"Coat room?"

"You do realize this is weird, right?"

"Because I forgot your name already?" He asked nonchalantly.

"That, and I forgot yours, and I really don't want to remember. From now on, you're Random Guy I Fucked In The Coat Room At That Wedding Once."

Both laughed, and her arms wrapped languidly around his neck. He tugged her closer by the waist, their hips pressed together.

"That's a mouthful. But I'm cool with that, Girl I Fucked At Jade's Wedding."

"Oh, how romantic! I'm smitten."

And then she closed the distance between them with a soft kiss, which didn't take too long to become deeper, rougher, and quite a bit clumsy. Teeth clashed together between fits of giggles, and he couldn't quite figure out where to put his hands, and she was leaning heavily against his body. It made him stumble backwards, and their moment was bluntly interrupted by a loud thud and the sound of something breaking.

"Crap." He looked down at the carefully wrapped package that was now on the floor. Sighing, he picked it up and gave it a little shake; the sound was most likely broken porcelain.

"You're probably gonna have to pay for that." She remarked, still a little breathless.

"Then you'd have to pay for half! If it wasn't for you leaning on me, I wouldn't have to brace myself on this thing."

"Or you could put it back like nothing happened and apologize later."

"And head to the coat room?"

"That's what I'm thinking."

They did. And once they were locked in the impossibly tiny room, it was a lot more awkward than they had expected, but that was part of the fun of it – it was careless, and giggly, and half-dressed, and nobody needed to impress anyone else. It was hands grabbing at slippery fabric, at soft skin, at the walls for support. The anonymity thrilled him. It felt dirty, not even knowing the name of the girl whose legs were squeezing his head when she came. Dirty in a good way. In a way that made him want more, that made him forget for a moment that he was at Jade's wedding, that made him euphoric in a way he hadn't been in a good while.

And when they walked out of that coat room, arm in arm, like nothing happened, it felt lighter. Easier. Maybe what he needed was just to feel wanted. Maybe he just didn't want to be alone. And maybe, just maybe, when he saw Jade and Tori promise to love each other forever, it didn't hurt as much, didn't feel like Tori was entering that beautiful future that was meant to be his – it was hers all along, and he wouldn't really fit. He didn't have to. There were adventures to be had and strangers to hook up with and a whole life ahead of him.

Or maybe it was just the vodka talking. But he was finally able to look at the – former – love of his life as she married someone else, and smile honestly, and that in itself was something to be celebrated.

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**_A/N: _**_The ending was a little inconclusive, but I like this. It sort of came out all at once, and I'm very sleepy, so I apologize for the probable lack of continuity… This one was based on Lorde's song _Team_, and I'm thinking of rounding off the trio of beautiful singers by adding a third chapter based on any song by Marina And The Diamonds. If you've got a suggestion, please leave it in a review. Thank you for reading!_


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